PLDT-Smart Technology head Rolando Peña described the development as historic and said it was a “major step forward for Smart and the Philippine mobile industry.”

LTE is a telecommunication standard for high-speed data transfer. Being a standard for data transfer, operators need to engineer it to be able to do voice calls, which are currently handled differently.

1ST LTE OVERSEAS CALL FROM THE PHILIPPINES. Huawei Wireless Technology Head Li Zhi Chao calls a colleague at the Huawei head office in China to make the first overseas LTE call from the Philippines at the Smart office in Mabolo, Cebu City. (Photo provided by Smart Public Affairs)

The calls and sending of SMS were made a month after Smart launched commercial availability of its LTE services.

IT took two long weekends but I finally got to inbox zero and that state of bliss you find yourself in after having processed all pending e-mails and seeing an empty inbox.

Like many people, I felt that I’ve lost control of my e-mail. My inbox was full of messages that needed to be replied to or dealt with. Instead of immediately acting on an e-mail by sending a short reply, I’d put off sending a response until I had the time to send a fuller e-mail. My e-mail even served as a digital filing cabinet for documents, contact details and event invitations. And that was how the messages piled up.

It was Sisyphean. I’d clear a few messages only to get so much more and by the end of each day, my inbox kept growing.

Heading to the two long weekends last month, I decided to revisit the Inbox Zero philosophy of dealing with e-mails. It was started by writer Merlin Mann of 43Folders, a blog “about finding the time and attention to do your best creative work.” Mann, in turn, said he got inspiration from the getting things done philosophy espoused by David Allen.

The best resource on the topic is a video of Mann during a Google Tech Talk last July 23, 2007. That video can be accessed at the Inbox Zero website.

SMART Communications, Inc. has made its LTE service dual-frequency by deploying its 1800 megahertz (MHz) band during the Asian Carriers’ Conference (ACC).

Smart LTE now runs on the 2100 MHz and 1800 MHz bands, said PLDT and Smart Network and IP Systems head Rolando Peña. He said Smart is the first telecommunications company in the country to deploy the service in multiple frequencies. The deployment is also consistent with the company’s operation–it offered 3G in multi-frequencies, he said.

Peña said the deployment improves the quality of the service and user experience as well as offers people choice.

“Why do we need to do that? LTE today has no standard frequency to operate in…we are giving the customers the choice. Anyway, we have the equipment, we have the capability, we have the system and we have the frequency asset. Why don’t we use it?” Peña said during an interview at the sidelines of the ACC.